The Letter
by BooBar
Summary: ONE-SHOT: When Jake finds an old letter, Marley discovers something about her past that may change her forever! I'm not good at summaries but I hope you read and enjoy :)


**The Letter**

_**Hey guys! This is my first Jake/Marley story; a one-shot that kind of came out of nowhere! I don't know if anything has been said about Marley's past so I thought I'd play around with it.  
Let me know what you think. Reviews are appreciated **___

_**I do not own these characters. Enjoy!**_

Looking out of her kitchen window, Mrs Rose could see two figures getting bigger as they came closer to the house. After a few minutes, she saw a figure she knew all too well; the figure of her slim daughter Marley, almost skipping towards her front door with her hand in that of her slightly taller, well-built boyfriend, Jake Puckerman. As they approached the house she could hear their laughter over something that had happened in glee club only an hour ago. She continued to cook and peer out onto the front lawn as the door opened and a cool breeze swept through the house.

"Mom, we're home." Marley shouted as the sounds of bags dropped on the floor in the hallway.

"I'm in here kids." She turned her attention away from the bubbling pot as her daughter approached her and gave her a light kiss on the cheek with Jake only a few feet away from her.

"Wow, Mrs Rose, something smells amazing in here." He took a seat at the dining table next to Marley, resting his hand on her knee under the table out of view of her mother.

"Yeah mom, what is it?" Marley asked, blushing slightly at the feel of her boyfriend's hand on her knee.

"Lamb stew, but you're not getting any until that mess is cleaned up in your room. I don't know how you can study in there with all of those papers and loose notes everywhere."

"Okay, we'll go and sort it." Marley stood up, taking Jake's hand in hers, leading him out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"I'll give you a shout when it's done."

"Okay mom!" Marley shouted down the stairs as she reached her bedroom door.

Marley's bedroom was by far the smallest room in the house but she didn't mind. It had enough space for a single bed in the middle with a desk one side in front of the window and a keyboard set up on the other side with a wardrobe on the same side of the room as the door. The walls were a light green colour, filled with old pictures of Marley and her mother from what seemed like a long time ago, judging by Marley's height.

"I hate to say it but your mom was right, this place is a mess." Jake grinned as he looked around her room at all of the papers that covered her desk, bed and keyboard. "What is all this stuff anyway?" He asked as he picked up various bits of papers and piled them up on one side of her desk.

She too had begun to pick up the A4 sheets that lay across her keyboard. "Songs mainly, well these ones are." She gestured to the bits of paper she had collected in her hands whilst turning and looking at Jake. "I think those ones are just letters from people at my old school."

A few minutes passed as they organised the bits of paper into songs, class notes and letters. The bed had been cleared and Marley sat on the edge of it flicking through her biology notes from last month. Jake continued to look through the letters until he saw one that differed from the rest. There was no address written in pink gel pen, but simply 'Marley' written in a black ink pen on the front of an envelope that looked worn and more than a few years old. His mind began to wonder.

"Hey, Marley can I ask you something?" Jake spoke softly, trying to word in his head what he wanted to ask before saying anything.

"Erm, okay." She looked up with a curious look in her eyes, placing the documents she held in her hand in a box under her bed.

"Did you ever hear from your dad?" The room went quiet, the sound of paper rustling had stopped and Jake panicked, wondering if he should have said anything. In the few months they had been together, he had never heard her speak about her dad. He wondered if he had crossed a line as he looked up and saw Marley looking straight at the ground.

"No, not really; I don't know that much about him. Just that he left my mom and me when I was two." She was looking up at him, her eyes fixed on his. He hadn't expected her say anything and was surprised when she continued. "Mom never liked to talk about it. I asked her a few times when I was thirteen or fourteen but she would close off and change the subject really quickly. Why do you ask?"

He sat down next to her on the bed handing her the envelope. "I just found this and it looked…well…it looked different from all the others. I don't know who it's from; I've just got this feeling." She looked down at the handwriting, knowing it was a font she didn't recognise. He noticed the worried expression she had on her face, the same expression she had when the gun fired at the school only a few weeks ago. This seemed to be just as scary to her as those shots. He held it out to her as he placed his left arm behind her on the bed to support himself.

"I…I didn't know that was in there. It must have slipped in amongst the others when we packed up the old house." She took the letter from his hand and looked up at him.

"If you don't wanna open it, it's cool. I just thought you should know it was there." He placed his hand on the small of her back rubbing it softly. "It's your choice."

"I don't know what to do. What if it _is_ from him? I've wondered for so long I just…I don't want to be…I'm scared."

"Well I'm right here; you don't need to be scared." He gave her a flash of his charming smile that made all of her worries go away and her knees go weak.

"Okay" She said breathing in deeply and exhaling slowly. She slipped her finger under the loose seal on the furthest side of the envelope and ripped the top off of it. She pulled the letter out and took one more look at Jake who simply nodded and held her close to him by her waist. She smiled and unfolded the paper and read out loud, surprising Jake, he thought this would be something she would want to keep private.

_Dear darling Marley,_

_First of all I want to say I love you. I always have and I always will._

_I don't know how old you are now reading this as I simply left instructions to leave it somewhere for you, hoping that one day you would find it and in your own time you would come to accept everything that I am going to say in this letter._

_I want you to know that I loved your mother very much, but after years together something changed and we simply grew apart. Please Marley; know that this wasn't your fault. When you came along, we were closer than we had been for a long time but we couldn't last. I began to work later at work and when you were 18 months old, I started an affair with my business partner at work. She was lost and confused and so was I. I had lost the meaning in my life. It wasn't fair to your mother and to you to keep sneaking around and just after your second birthday I packed my bags and went to live with her. I hoped and prayed that one day your mother would forgive me. She was, and I hope still is, a strong woman and if you've got half of her strength then I know you will be doing just fine and she will be too. _

_I understand you must be angry but I couldn't live a lie anymore and couldn't hurt your mother more than I already had. Maybe one day you will want to find me, if that is so then I will be waiting for you. If not then I understand, just know that I love you and I hope you are happy and healthy._

_Always in my heart, I love you darling daughter,_

_Dad_

She read over the last word several times before looking at Jake who simply sat there and waited for his girlfriend to say something. It was a few minutes before she spoke, looking back down at the letter.

"You know, I always wondered what happened; whether he ran away because he couldn't stand the sight of me, or because I was always singing and dancing from when I was old enough too. I thought he hated me. I thought I was the reason he left, and now I find out that he had an affair and went to live with someone else." She closed up the letter and put it back in the envelope, closing her hand around it. She leant her head on Jake's shoulder and felt his lips on her forehead.

"Well at least he got on thing right…" Marley looked up at him confused. "You are as strong as your mum, and you are happy right?"

"Yeah, I'm happy. I've got amazing friends in glee club and my mom, and you." She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "I've got everything I could wish for." She smiled as Jake pulled her in close for a hug.

"Marley! Jake! Dinner's ready!" The voice of her mother brought a smile to her face. She _was _happy and her mom was happy too. For as long as she had known, this was her life and it was a good life.

"Coming mom!" She shouted as she threw the letter into her bin. "He isn't a part of my life and I don't want him to be." She smiled and looked content after making her decision. Jake stood up and held his hands out to help her off her bed. She beamed and took his hands in hers.

Together they left her room, their fingers intertwined as they made their way to the kitchen. Entering the room and taking her place at the dining table, Marley felt a sense of wholeness. She knew the answer to a question she had wanted to know the answer to for a while and as she looked at Jake next to her and her mum opposite her, both laughing and smiling, she knew that her past didn't matter, she was living in the present and she _was _happy,


End file.
